Out of the blue-black street Hillary Clinton swept through the revolving doors and crossed the foyer at a brisk clip, surrounded by a small knot of entourage and two agents in dark suits with earpieces. The four activists made rueful grimaces; they had all refused to attend the meeting with the American secretary of state in protest against her close ties to Mubarak.
The question on the table was a grand one. Would this be democracy as the Americans understood it, one man (or woman), one vote, and liberty for all, or was this going to be some hybrid balanced on the twin pillars of Arab political default: strongman and Koran? This big question was spliced into the concerns of the immediate, medium and long-term: Hillary’s visit, the role of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), military detentions, the constitutional referendum next week: what did it mean for a transitional road map? Falling currency reserves, a mooted IMF debt package. The journalists turned, inevitably, to the question of Israel. What policy would a new Egypt pursue against its neighbor? Would the Islamists uphold the Camp David Accords? It was here the four activists joined hands for a moment (metaphorically).
“Well, Israel is an enemy for all of us . . .”
Hillary stepped into the lift, which carried her up and away.
“And what about civil liberties, what about homosexuality?” asked the other journalist, scratching his temple.
The Muslim Brotherhood activist frowned and leaned back in the soft gray chenille sofa opening his palms, passing the question to the liberal with a shaggy Egyptian fro.
“This is your department,” he said, discomforted, but amused too at the shared discomfort. So, not surprisingly, the Republican field essentially responded to the Supreme Court upholding Obamacare by invoking the free market and related shibboleths, speaking mostly in broad terms, and getting tripped up by the truth when they tried to get specific. We’ll turn to them in a moment. But first, we should note what Bernie Sanders had to say, as he also spoke broadly, but without the deception or obfuscation. The broad statements he made could be backed up with specific facts. He also skillfully praised what Democrats had accomplished without forgetting for a moment that more remained to be done:
1. Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege–every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access quality care regardless of their income.
2. We must create a national system to provide care for every single American in the most cost-effective way possible.
Tragically, the United States fails in both areas.
As already noted, the idea of health care as a right possessed by all is realized by 20 OECD countries—almost 60% of them. Add in 5 more than fall infinitesimally short at 99.9%, and you include every country in Western Europe except Belgium (98.8) and Luxembourg (97.2). It very clearly is quite doable to ensure health care as a right. We simply have to make it a priority. Sanders continued:
The health insurance lobbyists and big pharmaceutical companies make “national health care” sound scary. It’s not.
In fact, a large single-payer system already exists in the United States. It’s called Medicare and the people enrolled give it high marks. More importantly, it has succeeded in providing near-universal coverage to Americans over age 65 in a very cost-effective manner.
It’s time to expand that program to all Americans.